Weapons of Ninjutsu

Ashiko: The foot claws are made to walk on ice or slippery surfaces or to gain traction in mud. Most castle walls were made of stone and were therefore too hard of a surface to gain traction. Fingers and toes were all that was usually required to scale the cracks in the walls.

Ashuko: (or Shuko) The hand claws were designed to add injury to your grapples.

Bokudo: The wooden samurai sword is a practice sword that has more of the weight and shape characteristics of a daito. A little more lethal than the shinai. Legend has it, that Minamoto Musashi only used a bokudo in his later years to give his adversary's a honorable chance in his sword contests.

Daito: The samurai sword has become legend for it's cutting ability and quality. Whole schools of thought have been dedicated to creating these works of art. These swords are approximately 40" in length today (traditionally length depended upon the era the sword was made and the person weilding it) and are traditionally made of folded steel, although today they can be found in 440 stainless. Examples are: Katana had less curvature than the tachi which was slung over the shoulder.

Fukid'zutsu: The blow gun was made to propel needle darts at both man and horse.

Han-Bo: The half staff is a weapon of common occurance. Whether someone developed the techniques after their staff broke or just adapted to what was at hand at the time is a moot point. Konigun Ninjutsu uses both single and double han-bo. Single is often used for grappling, while the double is often used for weapon defense.

Kaginawa: The grappling hook assists in climbing, however, it is also used for trap designs, dismounting horsemen, lowering self down, and long range grappling.

Kama: The hand held sickle was a rice harvesting implement used throughout the orient.

Mamba: The metal knife was a common implement that everyone carried on their person which was better adapted for throwing. It developed into a flat knife pointed on both ends with no handles for easy concealment.

Manji-sai: The double ended sai was made to climb castle walls by jabbing between the stones and stepping up on. Also it was thrown to cripple and injure horse or samurai as well as close quarter combat.

Manriki: The hawser chain was used to keep an animal from running, by reducing the play between the chest harness and the head harness. If the animal could not raise it's head up, then it could not run off. It was later adapted to tangle up the feet of horses and men or to throw off balance the sword or the arm holding the sword after it had been drawn.

Manriki-gusari: The weighted chain with handles that was used originally as two pins dropped into the yokes of an ox team, with the chain going between the two oxen in order to enable simultaneous turning. Now used primarily as a grappling weapon against blades and other weapons.

Met`subushi: The blinding powder was usually dispensed as a muscle relaxer or a poison attached to a salt through a drying process. This would allow the salt to scratch the eye giving direct access to the blood stream. By poisoning or deadening the eye, the person would not be able to focus.

Mit`subushi: The caltrops were use to throw down to make noise to warn of an approaching attaker or to injure the bottom of his feet. They were also used to slow pursuit.

Ninja-to: The ninja sword was an older version of the samurai sword that had been discarded. The main characteristics of this sword made it for piercing armor rather than slicing.

Nun-chaku: The nun-chaku first had a twenty-inch handle on one side and about a sixty-inch handle on the other side. A twenty-four inch rope in the middle bound them together. The original nun-chaku was used to hull grain. The nun-chaku(s) were later converted to today's style for purposes of being a weapon.

Obi: The sash or belt was another common item that was adapted to protect one self when nothing else was at hand. One usually had one on as an item of every day apparel.

Ogi: The steel fan were used to defend against other weapons and grapple. They developed out of the fans used to circulate the air and cool one's person.

RokuShaku-Bo: The 6' staff is a weapon of common occurance. One just had to step into the nearest woods to fashion something which could be used to defend one's self.

Sai: The sai was a common rice harvesting implement found throughout the Orient. The main prong was used to cut grain/rice furs. The two small prongs were used to tote two bundles of grain/rice after it had been harvested.

San-Setsu-Kon: The three sectional staff is a Chinese weapon constructed from three pieces of wood which were connected by metal rings or rope. Introduced in the 21stgeneration of Konigun Ninjutsu.

Shaken: The throwing star is one of many in the shuriken family. Started as a Tsubute.

Shinai: The bamboo sword was used to minimize damage during sword practice.

Shinbo/Shabo: The shinbo/shabo is a 10"-12" metal rod with a ring to stick your index finger through in order to release and let hang on the back of the hand to allow the hand to hold another weapon; only to flip it into the palm of the hand and grasp to attack joints of armor. While holding the sword it would be on the back of the hand protecting it from a strike to that area from another sword.

Shoge: (or Shogee) The hooked knife with chain and ring was an invention to combine several weapons. The straight blade of the shoge was made to pierce armor, while the curved blade was used for grappling. The chain was made to entangle other weapons, whilethe ring was made to entangle the legs of horse and humans alike. Other advantages were that the hook could be used like a grappling hook in trees to swing down from limbs. This would allow the Ninja to quickly and singlely whip the chain or rope and the hook fall from the limb allowing for quick exit.

Shoto: The short samurai sword whose length depended upon the era it was created and the person weilding it.

Shurikens: The throwing blades are a category of weapons. This category encompasses all the throwing weapons listed below including the shaken and the mamba.

   A) Tsubute: The sharp metal disk or flat stone that was sharpened. The fat stone was sharpened by heating and droping cold water on it's edges. The metal disk was a large coin of currency that was sharpened in order to carry with other currency into a establishment without detection. The stones would often be deployed by throwing on the ground in a high potential area of combat in order to be picked up and used later. Most places the stones were employed a head of time was the front and back door area of a ninja's home or on the path a ninaj would retreat down.

   B) Kugi/Kuwai-ken: The spike/dirk started off as wood sticks with weights on one end and a string on the other to drag air to keep it turned in the right direction.

   C) Kozuka: The throwing knife was invented as an alternative to the fast draw, one could just push the knife throught the hole in the tsuba and flick it at the enemy.

   D) Aikuchi: The 9"bladed dirk was devloped for longer range throwing and often had a string attached to the dull end to control it's flight.

Tanto: The short ninja sword was the secondary fighting blade of the ninja.

Tonfa: The tonfa was a handle off of a manually opperated mill stone used to grind rice, wheat or corn. This weapon is traditionally of Okinawan origin, but was taught by Shidoshi Saija of the 36th generation and we are not sure who introduced it to him, however he saw the need to adapt it to the style.

Uwagi: The cloak changed the shape or silhouette of the person wearing it while protecting against projectiles. It also was used for wind resistance, to slow the fall when jumping off of high objects.

Yari: The Japanese spear is of traditional significance. There are several types of Japanese spears, differing in their construction by their use, geographical location or era. Examples are: Kama-Yari(spear with a sickle shaped head), Naginata(spear with a 3ft long blade), Nakae(the spear shaft), Nakamaki(a slightly curved blade), Magari-Yari(Similar in appearance of a trident with the side blades set at right angles to the center blade).